
SABBATH-SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
23
He no doubt referred to the prophetic time, and to the very
prophecy we are now studying.
7.
"When the loud cry, 'It is finished,' came from the lips
of Christ, the priests' were officiating in the temple. It was the
hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing Christ
_ had been brought to be slain. Clothed in his significant and
beautiful dress, the pripst stood with lifted knife,
as did Abraham
when he was about to slay his son. With intense interest the
people were looking on. But the earth trembles and quakes; for
the Lord Himself draws near. With a rending noise the inner
veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand,
throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place once filled
with the presence of God. In this place the shekinah had dwelt.
Here God had manifested His glory above the mercy-seat. No
one but the high priest ever lifted the veil separating this apart-
ment from the rest of the temple. He entered in once a year
to make an atonement for the sins of the people. But lo, this
veil is rent in twain. The mose holy place of the earthly sanc-
tuary is no longer sacred.
•
"All is terror and confusion. The priest is about to slay
the victim; but the knife drops from his nervous hand, and the
lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the death of God's
Son. The great sacrifice has been made. The way into the
holiest is' laid open. A new and living way is prepared for all.
No longer need sinful, sorrowing humanity await the coming of
the high priest. Henceforth the Saviour was to officiate as priest
and advocate in the heaven of heavens. It was as if a living
voice had spoken to the worshipers, There is now an end to all
sacrifices' and offerings for sin."—"
Desire of Ages," pp. 908, 909,
Trade Edition.
8.
As the seventy weeks, or four hundred ninety days, literal
years, were allotted to the Jews, and the covenant was to be
confirmed with the Jews for one week, the work of Jesus was
largely devoted to them. He was baptized at the age of thirty.
His ministry began in A. D. 27, and continued till A. D. 31, when
He was crucified in the middle of the covenant week. The re-
maining three and one-half years of the seventy weeks were
used by the disciples of Christ in preaching the Gospel to the
Jews'. When this time was fulfilled, the Jews having rejected
the Gospel, they went everywhere pieaching the word. Thus the
first 490 of the 2300 years reached
to‘,.
D. 34, when the Gospel
began to be given to the Gentiles.
By subtracting the 490 years from the 2300 years, there re-
main 1810 years of the 2300 years this side '
-
of A. D. 34. Adding
Nine-tenths of the women of India never heard of
a
Saviour.